The Great Flood
by Soul's Release
Summary: When a warrior falls from the stars and accidentally brings with him a scourge of immeasurable danger, Ruby Rose and her fellow classmates must band together in order to survive the newest threat to ALL life on Remnant.
1. Starry Night

**Disclaimer: I do not claim any ownership over the characters or other similar items in this story. All rights belong to 343 Industries and Rooster Teeth Studios. Also, the ideas and concepts portrayed in this Fanfic are not considered canon to either the Halo Universe or the RWBY Universe.**

 **Prologue:**

 **-Remnant, Beacon Academy-**

Ruby Rose approached the place where she and her friend Jaune Arc had agreed to meet to watch the meteor shower, namely the cliffs where they had started their initiation test on their first day at Beacon. The fractured moon shimmered in the night sky and cast a solemn white glow upon the cliffs, giving the evening a calming feeling. After several minutes of walking, Ruby came upon Jaune, who was leaning against a rock and idly kicking at a large cluster of weeds that were growing nearby.

"Hey, Jaune," Ruby greeted, which caused the boy to jump in surprise, causing Ruby to chuckle at his skittishness.

Jaune took a few seconds to calm down, then smiled weakly and waved. "H-hey Ruby. What took you so long?"

"Lost track of time... Sorry."

Jaune shook his head and sat down on the grass. "It's alright, I was just starting to think you weren't coming..."

Ruby laid down on the grass a few feet away from him and folded her arms behind her head as she looked up and watched the meteor shower above. "And miss this awesome meteor shower, yeah right."

Jaune followed suite and laid down as well, and they both sat in silence for a long while. They watched the streaks of light shoot across the sky and enjoyed the cool night air as they laid there. It wasn't until Jaune saw a rather larger meteor shoot across the sky that he spoke.

"Hey, Ruby?"

"Yeah, Jaune?"

"You ever wonder what's up there?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"Like what?" Ruby said confused.

"Like, maybe somebody up there is wondering what it's like here..."

Ruby was quiet as she thought about the idea of life beyond Remnant; the whole idea was strange to think about, but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed likely. After all, the odds of Remnant being the only place with living people was very slim if she thought about it.

"I guess... Do you think we'll ever meet them?"

A few moments went by as Jaune thought about it, by now the meteors had all but stopped except for the occasional straggler, and Jaune stood up to head back to the school. He looked at Ruby and extended his hand to her. "I hope so. Don't you?"

Ruby smiled, took his hand, and climbed to her feet. She brushed her skirt off and nodded. "Sure, it'd be cool to meet 'em."

Jaune shook his head and chuckled to himself. "Are you always this positive about everything?" He asked as he walked away.

Ruby frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "Yes I am..."

She didn't follow him immediately, instead she turned and looked back up at the sky. She sighed as she noticed one more, much larger, meteor shoot across the sky, and smiled to herself before turning and following Jaune back to Beacon.

 **-Aft Section of UNSC FFG-201 _Forward Unto Dawn_ -**

The AI Holotank that held Cortana's storage chip flickered to life as Cortana's avatar appeared on top of it. She frowned in concern as the ship shuddered and she immediately pulled up a holographic display that showed several different pieces of information, including the date, the ship's power levels, weapon's status, hull breaches, and the hull's temperature. Cortana's concern was increased when she saw that the ship was entering a planet's atmosphere and was falling apart due to the re-entry process. She then pulled up a cryostasis control page that showed the status of the 16th cryo-pod in the room. She sighed before activating the thawing procedure for the pod and turned to watch as the occupant woke up.

"Wake up, Chief. I need you."

A few seconds went by before a groaning could be heard from the pod, followed by the sound of the glass being pushed on.

"Chief! Easy... You've been out for a while." Cortana warned.

"Where are we?" the Chief replied.

Before Cortana could react, the entirety of the Dawn shook violently, causing what few lights were on to flicker.

"We're still on the Dawn, though I don't think it'll stay that way for long."

The Chief frowned under his helmet and looked around the cryo-bay from within the pod. "What's going on?"

"Hang on, I'm bringing your systems online now," Cortana said as the firmware and power to the Chief's MJOLNIR armor came to life. "I rewrote your suit's firmware while you were out..."

"You been busy."

"Alright, now due to the situation at hand, I can only partially restore the ship's gravity generators."

A moment later and the Chief could feel himself grow heavier as the gravity was restored.

 _"Partial system restoration. Initializing system diagnostics."_ An automated voice announced. _"Warning: hull integrity At 30%."_

"Chief, look up. You need to pull the manual release." Cortana said quickly.

The Chief reached above him and yanked on the release lever for the cryo-pod, and the hatch's air seal was broken, allowing the Chief to push it open. He made his way to the AI holotank and looked at Cortana a moment before pulling her storage chip out and inserting it into his neural interface at the base of his helmet. As Cortana's face appeared in the corner of his HUD he reached towards the MA5C he had stored before going to sleep and readied it for use.

"What's going on, Cortana?" He asked as he cycled the bolt on the rifle.

"I don't know how I missed it, but apparently we're entering the atmosphere of a planet. The re-entry process is tearing the Dawn apart, I figured you'd like to be woken up before we crash and burn on the surface..." Cortana said sarcastically.

"We'll be fine. Any chance it's a planet that we know?"

Cortana shook her head. "No, there's no planet in any of our databanks that match; we're going in blind."

The ship shook again, only this time a loud metallic screech could be heard from somewhere else in the ship, followed by the lights going out. Cortana pulled up a schematic of the ship and highlighted an escape pod bay.

"We need to get off the ship, now... The closest escape pod is 3 floors up."

The Chief nodded and turned on the flashlight attached to his helmet before he began running through the halls of the ship. It was a long run, mainly because he had to resort to climbing up the sides of an elevator shaft that had been collapsing, but eventually he had managed to get to the escape pod and climb inside.

"Wow, I wasn't sure the pod would still be here..." Cortana mused as the Chief buckled himself into the seat and shut the door.

"I told you we'd be fine. Now how do I start this thing?" He asked as he looked at the control panel for the small pod.

Cortana highlighted a series of buttons and switches on the panel, which the Chief activated in quick succession, only for the pod to remain dark and quiet.

The Dawn shook again and several explosions could be heard throughout the ship, which caused the Chief to frown in annoyance.

 _"Hull integrity at 5%. Personnel are advised to evacuate immediately."_

"Cortana? Why isn't it working?"

"The pod must be out of power!" Cortana guessed.

"Damn it!" The Chief climbed out of the pod and ran to a nearby armory. He worked quickly as he rigged up an explosive that would allow the pod to blast free of the ship and then returned to the pod.

"Chief, are you sure about this?" Cortana asked softly.

Cortana didn't get an answer to her question; instead the Master Chief climbed back into the pod, strapped himself in and closed the door once more. "Hang on!" he yelled as he raised a detonator and thumbed the activator.

As soon as the Master Chief's thumb released the button, several explosions rocked the escape pod and forced it forward, blowing the small craft free of the disintegrating remains of the Dawn. By this point, the ship had already entered the planet's lower atmosphere and was falling apart, which allowed the escape pod to sail through the sky without much re-entry effects.

Cortana sighed in relief as they flew and used the escape pod's external camera to see the outside, though she was immediately alarmed when she saw that the pod was on a collision course with a large castle-like building.

"Chief... I don't think this is going to end well!"

It was at that moment that the pod collided with a large tower with green lights on the top. The collision caused the Chief to smack his head on the front of the control panel and knocked him unconscious. The pod slammed into the tower, sat within the side of the structure for a few moments, then fell to the beautiful white courtyard below, creating a large crater as well as a loud crashing noise that certainly wasn't going to go unnoticed.

 **-Remnant, Beacon Academy-**

"Well, Glynda, it seems there was more than rocks in the midst of last night's meteor shower..."

Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he and Glynda Goodwitch stared at the large metallic object that had crashed into the courtyard of the school the night before. It was a large metal pod, with several burns on its sides, as well as a single hatch in the middle. There was white letters towards the top of the pod that were easy to read, and the hatch had a small circular window in the center that was obscured by a dark green object from within.

"It would seem so, Professor." Glynda replied as she used her riding crop to repair the damage that had been caused when the pod collided with Beacon Tower. Several pieces of white marble floated up into the air and connected together before returning to the place they came from. Very little was left as she made the repairs, then she, too, turned to examine the pod.

"UNSC FFG-201 77... UNSC? What is that, do you think?" Ozpin mused as he pointed his cane at the lettering.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Ozpin. Probably something that General Ironwood cooked up." The blonde guessed.

They both looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged in confusion. Glynda was about to pull her scroll from her pocket when Ozpin placed his hand on hers and shook his head.

"Let's not call the General just yet... Do you think you could open that hatch?"

Glynda frowned and simply scoffed before flicking her riding crop to the right a few degrees. Both it and the hatch were enveloped by a purple glow, then the hatch ripped itself from the rest of the metal and went flying behind them. Ozpin smiled at Glynda, then turned back to see what looked like a very large, dark green robotic figure sitting in a chair within the pod. The figure was covered from head to toe in dark green metal plates with patches of black seen in between them, as well as a green helmet that had a burnt orange-colored visor in the middle of it.

They both frowned at the sight and Ozpin felt a chill run down his spine. He had a terrible feeling that whatever was in that pod was extremely dangerous. He let out a shaky breath then looked at Glynda.

"Have Peter come down and carry it to one of the strongest holding cells he has..." Ozpin said before turning and heading towards his office at the top of Beacon Tower.

"Sir, are you sure?" Glynda asked hesitantly.

"Absolutely..."

 **-Near Salem's Fortress, Crashsite of Forward Unto Dawn-**

 _Mayday, -day, ma-. - is UNSC G-21 Fo-ard Unto Da-da-da Dawn requesting (static) evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code Vic- zero five (static) three dash Sierra one one one one one... seven._

 _Mayday, -day, ma-. - is UNSC G-21 Fo-ard Unto Da-da-da Dawn requesting (static) evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code Vic- zero five (static) three dash Sierra one one one one one... seven._

Several lights flickered in no real pattern as the SOS beacon's message continued to play through the smashed halls of the Dawn. When the bulk of the ship had impacted, it was as if the backbone of the ship was ripped clean out while the rest of the metal continued. The result was a tangled mess of metal, with thousands of pounds of debris being scattered for miles. Doors were blown open and entire rooms were smashed into oblivion, creating openings for all kinds of things to enter and investigate the wreck.

One of those things was a creature of Grimm, a Beringel to be exact. As the lone creature explored the mess, looking for food, it was completely unaware of the small pale green form that skittered behind it, stalking it as if the Grimm were a prize. The Beringel reached the remains of a vending machine and began pushing on it trying to make the machine spit out a product, and as it lifted its hand in anger at the snack machine, the critter jumped. It used the tendrils on the underside of its body to latch itself to the Grimm's arm and then began burrowing itself under the dark smoky flesh causing the Grimm to howl in pain. The Beringel started to beat its arm against the vending machine, hoping to crush the small creature, but it was too late. The pale green creature continued to dig until it managed to worm its way completely inside the Grimm, then made its way to where it would begin its work.

The entire time, the howls of the Beringel could be heard coming from within the wreck of the Dawn, and soon those howls turned into screeches that were not from any Grimm...

The Flood had returned...

 **Author's Note:**

Hey there everyone! It's me again... of course.

Anyways this is just the start of a new crossover fanfic that I got the idea for from reading another story by _Shadow of Omega_ called RWBY: Necrophobia. It's a RWBY and Dead Space crossover fic that only has a few chapters, but I liked it a lot. It gave me the inspiration for this fanfic, so hopefully you enjoy it.

So, I don't know how long this story will go for, but I hope it does well enough that people want more, so if you do like it, please let me know by favoriting this or leaving me a review, or heck go ahead and do both if you want.

So with that being said, I'll see you later!

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside,**

 **Soul's Release**

 **EDIT:**

I did a quick edit of chapter 1 and what was going to be chapter 2 and merged them together, seeing as they were both short. Hope you enjoy the new result.


	2. Deals, Aliens, and Family Ties

**Chapter 1:**

 **Beacon Academy, Grimm Holding Cells**

As the Master Chief lay unconscious in the large metal holding cell beneath Beacon Academy, several members of the school's staff watched him from outside, some eager to learn about the form in the cage, and some worried about what could happen if it woke up. Professor Ozpin and Headmistress Glynda both sat in chairs that had been brought down, and they drank cups of coffee to help them stay awake; they had been awake for the last 36 hours and had spent the most of that time down with the green giant, stating that they wanted to be there when it woke up.

As for the other two people in the room, Professor Peter Port and Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck were waiting to learn as much as they could about the figure, though Port was mainly present in case the cage failed or one of the others needed access inside, seeing as he had the only set of keys to any of the holding cells beneath the schools.

Oobleck was about to say something to Ozpin about going to get some rest but when a groan came from the cage, he shut his mouth and looked towards the cage as its occupant began moving. Everyone was quiet, and alert as if a sudden surge of adrenaline had begun surging through them.

"Ugh... Johnson may have had a point when he said I was gonna land on something as stubborn as myself one of these days..."

"Um... Chief?" Cortana's voice said as it came from the speakers in the SPARTAN's helmet.

"Yeah, I know... It was a bad idea to blow the escape pod out of the ship like that. You don't have to rub it in..." he said sarcastically as he sat up and shook his head.

"No, Chief, really-"

"At least my armor is still in one piece. Can't afford to have anything break down without access to UNSC tech. Cortana, can you run a systems diagnostic? I wanna make sure everything is working properly."

"CHIEF! SHUT UP!" Cortana yelled, causing the Master Chief to quiet down and listen to the AI.

"What?" he asked, feeling a bit annoyed that Cortana had yelled at him.

"Look behind you..." She said calmly.

The Master Chief did as he was told and stood up before turning around to see the four people who had been watching him. He froze in shock and looked between them for several minutes as he examined them all. He was silent for a moment as he let the realization sink in that he was in a large cage by unknown people.

"Shit..." He was quiet as one of the four, an elderly looking man wearing mostly green, with white hair and a cane, stood up from his chair and approached the glass to the cell he was in. The man was quiet as he looked the Chief up and down, then he sipped on a cup of coffee that he held in his hand.

"Greetings, my name is Ozpin. Professor Ozpin, who are you?" The man, who had introduced himself as Ozpin, asked with a serious tone.

The Master Chief was silent for a moment as he thought about the situation he was in, before he finally stood up straighter and stared ahead. "UNSC Master Chief Petty Officer. Serial number Victor zero five dash three dash Sierra one one seven."

Ozpin looked to his colleagues and raised an eyebrow in confusion. He was not expecting that much information from such a simple question, and so he was concerned, both because he had no idea what this 'UNSC' was, and because the tone of voice that came from the figure was very militaristic and serious. "Right... well, it's a pleasure to meet you," Ozpin looked back at the large man and adjusted his glasses. "I don't suppose there's another name you go by, something that is easier for conversations?"

Instead of a natural response like he was expecting, Ozpin was answered with the man repeating the same thing.

"UNSC Master Chief Petty Officer. Serial number Victor zero five dash three dash Sierra One One Seven." Again it was stated in the same militaristic voice.

This time it was Oobleck who spoke as he approached Ozpin from behind.

"I think I recognize this type of behavior, sir. I remember reading several articles from the war stating that captured soldiers would resort to only replying to questioning with their name and rank..." Oobleck glanced at the armored man for a moment before continuing. "I believe that is what is happening here."

Ozpin considered that for several seconds before he continued conversing with the man. "If this is the case, I want to reassure you that you are only in this cell because of the nature of your arrival at my school. I don't take kindly to my office being smashed by pieces of technology that I don't understand or recognize. That and your appearance is far beyond intimidating, and I didn't want questions raised by my students about you. I hope you can understand..."

The Master Chief remained silent for several minutes, then as he was about to repeat himself again, Cortana's voice interrupted him and began conversing with the man.

"That's quite alright, Professor. We understand completely. I apologize for the Master Chief's behavior, he has never been in this type of a situation before and is only acting according to how he was trained," Cortana paused as she made her face appear on the inside of the Master Chief's HUD. "Chief, go ahead and say hello, I'm sure it'll be alright."

The Master Chief growled softy under his helmet as Cortana finished speaking, but sighed before he reluctantly spoke. "It's... nice to meet you Professor. I hope you understand that I had no intention of damaging your property. Like Cortana said, I am unfamiliar with this type of situation, and although we are both members of Humanity, I was being cautious as I was unsure if you and your people harbored ill intent towards me."

Ozpin nodded as he listened to the soldier and as his assistant Glynda raised an eyebrow, he relaxed his grip on the top of his cane. "That's quite alright, Master Chief. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me about who you are and where you came from. The only things that we were able to salvage from the wreckage of your craft were a couple of weapons, and several boxes containing medical supplies, all of which had the same letters, UNSC, engraved on them in one way or another."

Cortana cut in again as she instantly knew that, due to her high level clearance as a UNSC AI, she would be able to answer almost any question that the man had. "Oh, I can help you with that, Professor. Go ahead and ask your questions."

Ozpin tilted his head as Cortana spoke again, confused by the two voices, and decided to voice his confusion. "Who was that?"

The Master Chief sighed as he reached for the back of his helmet and slowly removed the AI storage chip that rested in his helmet. With the chip resting between his thumb and index finger her showed it to the people before him. "That was Cortana..." He said slowly as he pushed a small button on the side of the chip, Cortana's avatar instantly projecting itself over the device. She face the Chief for a moment and smiled before turning around to look at Ozpin. She waved politely at the man and smiled.

"Hello..."

 **00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

 **Beacon Academy, Team RWBY Dormitory**

Ruby and her partner Weiss were busy studying for a test in Professor Oobleck's, while Blake sat on her bed and read one of her books, the three of them enjoying the peaceful silence of the room, when out of nowhere the door to the room slammed open. Ruby squeaked loudly in surprise as she jumped in her chair, causing her to fall to the floor before she looked to see both her sister Yang, and Nora from Team JNPR walking in, the two of them carrying several pieces of grey metal.

"Yang, was that completely necessary?" Weiss asked, glaring at the blonde.

Yang ignored Weiss as she and Nora walked over to Blake's bed and dropped the metal fragments on the mattress, earning a disapproving look from the Faunus. "Guys, did you hear about the meteor that crashed into Ozpin's office?" She asked as she started picking through her salvage.

Ruby frowned as she stood from her chair and looked at her sister. "What? Is Professor Ozpin alright?"

Nora nodded as she picked up a piece of the metal and began to try and bend it with her bare hands. "Yeah, he's fine, but the tower has a huge crater in the side of it. The best part is... some people say Professor Port dragged an alien out of it, too!"

Everyone except Yang stared at Nora st that. She had been known to exaggerate lots of things in the past, like the time she described one of her dreams to her friends and saying she and Ren had been surrounded by dozens of Ursai, when in reality it was 4-5 Beowolves. Ruby was the first to try and play her statement off as another such exaggeration, but Yang shook her head.

"No, really I overheard the same thing from Cardin... He said it was like a Green Metal Giant...!" She said as she waved her arms up and down at her sides.

Now it was Blake who spoke up, having been reading her book until Yang mentioned Cardin. "Yeah, but Cardin was probably lying... He's kind of a jerk that way."

Nora and Yang shook their heads as the both found a piece of metal that looked like they were supposed to fit next to each other. The letters 'UNSC' were engraved on them, though the white coloring was burned and faded. "Whoa..." Yang said as she stared at the two pieces. "What do you think that is?"

Ruby and Weiss walked over to see the interesting scraps of metal and Ruby shook her head. "I don't know... Maybe something from the Atlas military?"

"I highly doubt that..." Weiss said as she crossed her arms. "My sister, Winter, usually likes to tell me about new military programs that General Ironwood cooks up. And I can say with absolute certainty that I've never heard about any 'UNSC.' It's definitely not from Atlas..."

"I'll say..." Nora said loudly, causing everyone to glance in her direction. In her hands was the same piece of metal that she had been trying to bend, though they were all surprised to see the piece still straight as an arrow. "Whatever this stuff is made out of, it ain't from around here... I can bend most metals used for armor plating..." She paused as she stared at the piece, similar to how a person would if a pet did something wrong. "But this stuff won't budge..."

"Maybe... maybe there was an alien..." Ruby said as she looked back and forth at everyone.

Yang was about to say, 'I told you so,' but was stopped as an announcement was made over the schools' speakers.

 _Would all students and staff please proceed to the auditorium, please. I repeat, would all students and staff please proceed to the auditorium. Thank you._

Ruby took another quick look at the fragments of metal, particularly the ones with the letters on them, before she turned and led everyone to the auditorium, her thoughts stuck on the whole idea of the possibility of an Alien being at the school.

 **00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

 **Beacon Academy, Auditorium**

As the many students gathered into the large open space of Beacon's auditorium, Professor Ozpin looked to his right to see the Master Chief leaning against one of the white marble pillars that lined the stage. Ozpin was hesitant about the deal that he, Cortana, and the Master Chief had made, but he supposed it was better than the many alternative; leaving the SPARTAN-II in the holding cell where he would no doubt eventually break out of and cause a great deal of trouble while trying to escape. Instead, he and the rest of the staff that had been present at the conversation, would keep tabs on his behavior and watch over his actions. While he still felt there were many things that both the soldier and his AI companion had left unsaid, he felt that this was the best course of action, for everyone at his school.

As the last few people entered the auditorium, Professor Ozpin approached the microphone stand and cleared his throat, the sound causing everyone in the large room to fall silent. Ozpin took a moment as he surveyed the faces of the people present, his gaze pausing as he looked over the top three first-year teams, Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, Ozpin began his speech.

"Good afternoon, everyone. As I'm sure you're all probably wondering what I have gathered you here for, I will get right down to it. As I'm sure most of you were already aware of, last night our planet was graced with one of the many wonders of the stars. The meteor shower last night was indeed beautiful, yes, however as a surprise, that meteor shower contained something else. As I'm sure most of you have heard, whether it be through rumors, or actually witnessing it, a piece of debris crashed into Beacon Tower. Now, thankfully, nobody was harmed when this happened. However, we were lucky enough to have a new instructor arrive last night despite the meteors."

Ozpin gestured toward the Master Chief, who stood up straight and slowly approached the front of the stage. Ozpin stepped aside as the Spartan stepped up to the microphone, and watched as he introduced himself.

"Good afternoon. I am going to be Beacon's newest instructor. I will be teaching a new class called Advanced Combat Strategies. This class we be required of all first-year teams and will take place every other day at 1400..." The Master Chief paused as if forgetting something, then continued. "For those of you who are unsure of when that is, that is 2:00pm. I look forward to getting to know each of you, and hope you enjoy my class."

With that, the Master Chief stepped away from the microphone, allowing Ozpin to continue. "As our newest instructor stated a moment ago, this class will be required of all first year students. That is all for today, please go ahead and return to your activities, and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you."

As Professor Ozpin left the room, the members of teams RWBY and JNPR were left wondering about the new teacher that had arrived. However as they were ushered out of the auditorium, they were unable to watch as the man in the green armor stared at them his arms crossed as he watched them leave.

"Those were the members of Teams RWBY and JNPR, Chief." Cortana said as she read through their student files. Cortana knew she probably wasn't allowed to do it, but rules had never stopped her before when she wanted to find information. Besides the network security at the school was very lackluster compared to most of the computers she had previously hacked into. "Apparently they're the top two teams in terms of the first-year class..." She trailed off as she read over the file for the leader of Team RWBY.

The Master Chief could tell from the way she suddenly stopped that Cortana had found something interesting. As the last few people left the large room, he relaxed and made for the exit himself. "What is it? What'd you find?"

Cortana was quiet for a moment before she finally spoke again, a tone of curiosity in her voice. "Now this is interesting... Apparently, the leader of Team RWBY, Ruby Rose is the youngest team leader that the school has had in almost fourteen years. Ozpin admitted the girl to the school after she attempted to chase down a criminal that had been running free in the area. And although she failed in apprehending him, she did show extremely high levels of skill in combat even when she was outnumbered, being able to successfully incapacitate almost a dozen fully grown and armed men with ease. Ozpin was so impressed that he pushed for her to be rushed through the last two years at her previous academy and gave her a spot here at Beacon..."

As the Master Chief approached a small shack a little ways away from the majority of the school, he hummed to himself thoughtfully. "That is interesting... Wait you said that the girl was the youngest team leader in fourteen years... Who was the last?" he asked as he entered the building and turning on the lights. Ozpin had given the small hut to the Spartan to use as a dwelling during his stay, and although it was dusty and in shambles, the Spartan cracked a smile as he saw a king sized mattress and box-spring sitting in one corner of the building. It was the first _actual_ bed he had been allowed to use since his time as a SPARTAN-II trainee. As he popped the pressure seal on his helmet and removed it, he took in a deep breath and enjoyed the feeling of actual fresh air, his lungs usually breathing artificial or filtered oxygen. He pulled Cortana from his helmet and placed her on a small wooden table as he allowed her to project herself above the storage chip.

"Well, Chief, that's the kicker... The last person to be admitted to Beacon early was a woman named Summer Rose..."

John snapped his head towards Cortana as he began the long tedious process of removing his armor. "Summer Rose? Is there any connection between her and Ruby?"

Cortana sighed and nodded. "Summer Rose _was_ Ruby's mother..."

 **00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Yay! Finally was able to get over my short-term writers block and get this out. I have to say, I am really looking forward to the future chapters of this as I have big plans for the long-term story. I hope you guys all enjoy it too!

Also, I had quite a few people leave a review saying something related to how the Flood couldn't assimilate the Grimm because they dissolve into that black smoke upon death, **BUT** I had already looked into that problem and came up with a work-around.

You see, as a Flood Infection form finds a host, it uses the small tentacles underneath its body penetrate the skin, tap into the victim's spinal cord, and unleash an attack on the host's nervous system via direct contact with the spine, killing the host almost instantly, though in rare cases leaving the victim conscious. Once this is accomplished, it rewrites the neural pathways of the victim's brain with its tendrils, forcing a resonant frequency match between its neural signals and the host's signals. Then, it releases the Flood Super Cell which overwrites the host DNA and causes rapid mutation.

After the super cell is released it starts to morphologically augment the body, liquefying organs and redistributing biomass to create tentacles on the left arm **from the calcium in** **osseous tissue (Bone Tissues)**. This mutagenic process can occur within a matter of seconds. In exceedingly rare cases, such as if the Infection Form has been damaged or is incredibly old, it will go through the mutation process without killing the host.

Now remember all the plates of bone that cover the bodies of the Grimm, those are **full** of calcium seeing as they are made of bones, making the bone plates perfect material to use in the mutation of the Grimm. And seeing as how _old_ Infection forms are capable of infecting a host without killing it, the Beringel in chapter one was a perfect host, easily capable of being infected.

Now I hope that clears some stuff up and people understand the science behind what I was thinking when I started this. Anyways, please leave a review and let me know what you think of this chapter and about my explanation, and thank you for reading.

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside,**

 **Soul's Release**


	3. Four On One

**Beacon Academy, Old Shack**

The Master Chief looked at Cortana as she revealed the identity of Summer Rose to him, realization dawning on him as he registered that Cortana had used the past tense when talking about her. She hadn't said 'is,' she had said _'was.'_ That meant something had happened, and given that Professor Ozpin had already told him about the Grimm and the duty of Hunters and Huntresses, he had a feeling he knew. He remembered meeting an ODST once, during the fight for Voi, back during the time of the war, and although he never really had cared for the well-being of the Helljumpers, this one had gone out of her way to save his life from a Brute Chieftain. She had used only her combat knife to sneak up on the overly-large alien and stabbed it in the neck before it had the chance to slam it's Gravity Hammer onto the Chief, whose shields had been down at the time. After helping the Master Chief to his feet, the Helljumper had introduced herself as 1st Lieutenant Rose. He wondered if she had survived the end of the war, and if so, what she was doing now. Still, as he undid the many bolts that kept his armor together, he sighed before asking the next question.

"What... happened to her?" His voice was serious and he frowned as he pulled the pieces of armor off of his arms.

"Give me a moment, I'll read the associated file..." Cortana said as several lines of code ran across her body, her hacking skills going to work as she looked into the matter. She was quiet for almost two whole minutes before she groaned. "Damn... I can't access the file. Somebody _really_ doesn't want people digging into Ms. Rose's files... Even I can't crack the encryption on it..." She turned to look at the Chief as he finished pulling off the last pieces of his MJOLNIR armor, and she crossed her arms as she watched him walk across the room.

"That's odd... I wonder who could have encrypted it so well." John said as he sat on the edge of the mattress. The bed squished tightly under his weight, but held together as he got comfortable. "Do you think it was Ozpin?"

"That's who I was thinking, yes... But it's strange that he would be able to encrypt something so well that even _I_ couldn't crack it open."

"We'll just have to find out some other way, then." The Master Chief pinched the bridge of his nose as he rubbed sleep from his eyes and yawned, causing Cortana to laugh. He glared at her as he shook his head. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, I've just never seen you yawn before... I didn't figure you _ever_ got tired." Cortana said crossing her hands in front of her.

The Master Chief sighed as he moved to lay down on the bed. " _Yes,_ I do get tired... Very rarely, though... I guess all the years fighting have caught up with me..." He closed his eyes and let himself relax as he laid there.

"I guess... I'll keep an eye on things while you get some rest. Good night, Chief." Cortana smiled as she finished speaking only to see that the Spartan was already asleep. She sighed as she powered down the projector, and began digging around the security systems in the Academy.

 **00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

 **Beacon Academy, Team RWBY, The Next Day**

Ruby and the other first year teams sat in an empty classroom as they waited for their new instructor to arrive, her feet tapping on the floor as she waited. She had brought a few pieces of paper and a pen to take notes, as she was excited about the new 'Advanced Combat Strategies' class. She looked to her partner Weiss and frowned as she noticed the white-haired girl filing the nails on her right hand, obviously uninterested in the whole thing. Ruby frowned and jabbed the girl in the shoulder with her pen, eliciting a squeak from her as she jumped in her seat. Ruby giggled as Weiss groaned and glared at her.

"Ruby... must you be such a pest?"

Ruby stuck her tongue out at her partner as she crossed her arms. "I'm not a pest, you should being getting ready for class, Weiss... This is important!"

From a few seats away Yang let out a laugh as she lounged in her seat, her feet on the top of the table that was used for writing on, and she shook her head at her sister's statement. "Geez, sis... I've never seen you take a class serious in your life. What's up with you?"

Ruby frowned at her sister and sighed. "Guys, come on this class is important. I mean really, 'Advanced Combat Strategies?' This is important for us to know!"

Ruby turned her head when she heard the familiar voice of Cardin Winchester scoff. "Yeah right... The only reason they even made this stupid class is because that guy showed up at the school. I'll bet you guys 10 Lien that he isn't even a real teacher."

Ruby groaned as she laid her head down on her desk and ignored the others; clearly they didn't appreciate the gravity of how serious this class was.

It was then that a the classroom door swung open fast, and slammed into the wall as a man wearing a black dress suit and a blue tie walked into the room. His head was closely shaven, and his skin was almost as white as paper. He was quiet as he approached the center of the room and turned to face the students. His crystal blue colored eyes scanned over them, and as he placed his hands behind his back he sighed and pulled out what looked like a small metal card. He placed it on the desk and then turned back to face them, his gaze resting on Ruby for a moment before he cleared his throat loudly, although he didn't speak, he just stared at them like a robot.

Everyone was quiet for several moments before the leader of Team JNPR raised nervously spoke his mind. "U-um... Excuse me, but who are you exactly?"

The man looked at Jaune for a moment before he responded, his eyes glaring daggers at the blonde boy. "I am your newest instructor, students. You may call me Master Chief, or Chief... whichever you prefer, I don't care. Now, as a test of your abilities, today I have taken the liberty of having your weapons gathered in the sparring room, we will be heading there today and then our lesson will begin. Are there any questions?"

Ruby squirmed in her seat as she listened to the man's gravely voice, it gave her a feeling of nervousness as he spoke in such a tone, but she was quiet. In fact, the only person to say _anything_ was Cardin. Ruby closed her eyes and sighed as he stood up behind her.

"Yeah, _Chief_..." Cardin's voice was full of venom as he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the Spartan. "How's come we're going there? And what type of test will we be taking, huh?"

The Master Chief flexed his muscles as he heard the boy's cocky tone, and quickly reminded himself that these were only children, not soldiers like he was used to dealing with. He took a deep breath as he grinned at the boy. "Because I said so, that's why. And you'll all find out more about the test once we arrive..."

Cardin sat back down, grumbling to himself, but otherwise was quiet. The Master Chief looked at him a moment before he looked over everyone else. "Any other questions?" Everyone remained silent as he waited, then he nodded and picked up the card placing it in his pocket and approaching the door he had entered. "Good, now I leave Ms. Rose in charge of making sure you all get to the sparring room, I will meet you there." And with that he left them in the room alone.

Ruby swallowed as she realized what he had said and felt uncomfortable as everyone turned their heads to look at her. Weiss raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms. "I wonder why he picked you?"

Ruby shook her head as she stood up and headed for the exit, her classmates following suit. "I don't know, but it's weird... I mean before he started talking he stared at me like he was a trying to read my mind..."

Nora bounced up next to her and laughed. "Maybe he was trying to use his alien mind control powers on you? You know like in the movies!"

"Nora... there's no such thing as aliens..." Ren said from behind the ginger.

Ruby shook her head as she continued walking. "Ren's right Nora, there's no such thing as aliens..." She said uncertain of the truth behind that statement.

 **00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

 **Beacon Academy, Sparring Room**

Upon their arrival to the large sparring room, everyone noticed how all of their weapons were laid out on tables, the pieces of each weapon strewn about on the table and as they walked in, they noticed that their teacher was standing in the middle of the room, his body once again encased in the green and black armor they had seen the day before. Ruby walked over to one of the tables and as she saw several black and red metal pieces lying neatly in a few rows, she nearly felt as though she was going to faint. She picked up one of the blades to her scythe, Crescent Rose, and with a face of horror looked to her sister, who was also examining the pieces to her weapons.

"Wha- what happened to Crescent Rose?!" Ruby said as she started to freak out.

The Master Chief cleared his throat as he began to address the children.

"Good question, Ms. Rose... Now as I'm sure you all have noticed, I took the liberty of taking your weapons apart and laying them out on the tables you see before you. The point of this is so that you all can familiarize yourselves with the many intricacies and parts that make up your weapons. It is required of all successful soldiers to know how their equipment works and how to repair and clean it should a malfunction occur. Your first task today will be to reassemble your weapons as quickly as possible and once complete your team must inform me of such."

The students all stared at the Chief as if they had just been told to jump off of a cliff, and while they would probably survive it due to their Aura's, it wasn't a good idea... Jaune raised his hand as he realized he didn't have his usual sword and shield. Instead his table was covered in a myriad of black and silver metal blocks, screws, electrical parts and a few springs.

"Um... sir? This isn't my weapon..." He stated as he held up a blue triangular piece with what looked like a screen on one side.

The Master Chief nodded to Jaune as he pulled the boy's weapon off of his back, and held it in the air by the top of the shield. "Yes, I am aware, Mr. Arc. I decided that, since your weapon is a simple shield and sword, that you would have it replaced by a weapon that I use." The Master Chief walked towards the blonde boy and placed a paper booklet on the table next to the parts. "You are tasked with reassembling my MA5B Assault Rifle, all the parts are listed in this field manual, and I expect it to be operating at peak efficiency when you are finished."

Jaune frowned as he looked at all the parts. but nodded nonetheless. "Um... Okay."

The Master Chief turned to face the others and took a moment to roll his shoulder, as a cramp had formed in his arm. "Now, I will be considering this exercise a contest. The first team to finish reassembling their weapons will be rewarded with an extra credit assignment to partake in. Any questions?"

Nobody said a word as they all approached their weapons, some of them groaning at the whole idea, but they prepared themselves just the same. The Chief looked at them all, then started a timer o his HUD in his helmet. "Good... Begin."

 **00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Not surprising to the Master Chief, Team RWBY was the first team to finish the task she had been given. Blake and Weiss had finish around the same time, within about ten minute due to their weapons being relatively simple in their construction. Yang was next, as the only problem she had had was one of the sliding plates on her left gauntlet got stuck a couple of times. And Ruby was last. She had taken the most time out of her team, with a time of twenty minutes, as she had taken care to make sure every piece of her sniper-scythe was sitting in place properly before she added the next one. Even with her taking twenty minutes, her team was by far the fastest to finish, as most of the others would get frustrated several times before they were done.

As Ruby tested her scythe to make sure it worked by firing it, the Master Chief shook his head as he struggled to understand how the small girl could effectively use the large weapon. When he had gathered the weapons earlier that morning, he had tried to fire the large sniper-scythe himself, finding that unless he embedded the blade of the scythe into the ground, he was unable to keep a good grip without the recoil sending a shooting pain into his shoulder. Cortana had laughed at that saying that, "for a Spartan to experience a high amount of recoil that injured them was something she never thought she'd ever see.' The Master Chief had waited for the other two teams to finish and once he inspected his reassembled Assault Rifle, he nodded in approval as he approached Team RWBY.

"Well done, Ms. Rose. Your team was the first to finish. Excellent work."

Ruby beamed a smile at the Spartan and was nearly bouncing with excitement at the praise, though her partner held her still as she didn't want her to make a fool of herself. "What's our Extra Credit?!"

The Master Chief looked up as Cortana had turned on the large screens in the room, the Aura levels of the four girls being displayed in green bars, next to a picture of them and their name. Ruby looked up as well, and tilted her head to the side as she saw a fifth bar appear under the others as well as a picture of the letters 'MC.' The bar that was next to it had the word 'Shields' displayed over them and as the Master Chief readied his Assault Rifle with non-lethal ammunition, provided by Professor Port, he grinned under his helmet.

"Your Extra Credit assignment is to subdue me in combat using any form of action necessary."

 **00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

A few minutes later and Team RWBY found themselves staring at their teacher, their weapons at the ready, and looking determined to win. As the Master Chief looked at the four girls, he muted the speakers in his helmet.

"Cortana, begin combat recording for future study, please."

A small red dot appeared in the lower right portion of his HUD as Cortana turned on the recording device stored in his helmet. "Chief... Are you sure that this is a good idea? I mean, someone could get hurt..." Her face appeared in his HUD her face plastered with worry. "We still don't fully understand how Aura's or Semblances work, without the proper knowledge required, there's a high possibility that, either you, or Team RWBY could end up seriously injured or even killed."

John frowned and shook his head lightly. "It'll be fine, I'll be sure to be extra careful. Go ahead and start the timer."

Team RWBY looked up as a five second timer appeared on the displays above them. They all primed the different firing mechanisms in their weapons and grinned.

"Remember, winning conditions are that you have to make me surrender either through immobilization or incapacitation, understand?" The Master Chief said as he cycled the bolt on his Assault Rifle.

The members of Team RWBY nodded in unison as the timer reached zero. No sooner had the buzzer sounded that Ruby leaped into action, disappearing into a flurry of rose petals as she shot across the room. She pulled on the lever of Crescent Rose as she got close to the Spartan and grinned as she pulled the trigger. The intense recoil sending her upwards and allowing her to pivot her body and point the scythe at the Chief, who looked up and waited for the second round. As Ruby sailed above him, she quickly traded her magazine of Gravity infused Dust rounds, for one of Fire and fired again.

Unfortunately, the Spartan had anticipated this, as he had watched footage of how each of the students fought in combat situations. He was ready as he ordered Cortana to activate an Armor Locking subroutine. He slammed his fist into the ground as his energy shields went into overdrive, covering his body in a bright blue layer of static electricity. The round from the scythe impacted with his shield, and although it shook him hard enough he felt it in his bones, he was relatively unharmed. He waited until Ruby had landed on the ground again, a couple of feet away, before discharging the pent up static, causing an EMP to pulse off of his armor. Ruby was knocked onto her back as the pulse hit her and her weapon, causing the Fire rounds in the scythe to explode and tear up the entire firing mechanism.

Ruby shook her head as she felt everything slowing down, her Semblance deactivating as she slowly stood up and looked at her weapon. It was scorched in several places and the trigger was fused together; clearly it would need to be repaired before she could properly used it again. She turned back to her teacher and frowned as she watched Yang run up to him and swing her fist at him, easily being caught as the Master Chief ducked under Blake's roundhouse kick.

Yang yelled in surprise as the Master Chief picked her up by her waist and threw her across the arena, where she collided with Weiss, the pair crumbling to the floor in a mess of limbs. Ruby looked up at the display and her eyes shot open as she saw the Aura readouts for her team. Weiss and Yang had dropped by 25% in an instant while she herself was at 67%. Blake was okay, as she had kept up her usual routine of using her Shadow Clones to attempt to deceive her opponent, while staying back and barraging him with gunfire.

 _We need to change tactics, or we're gonna lose quickly..._ Ruby thought to herself before she yelled across the room to Yang and Weiss. "Team RWBY, FREEZERBURN!"

The other members of the team looked to their leader and nodded, Yang and Weiss leaping into action.

The Master Chief raised an eyebrow as he watched the due charging him. He raised his fists as he prepared to counter their attack, only to get confused as Yang blasted her weapons at the ground repeatedly as she rose into the air. The Master Chief looked up, backing up a few steps as he watched her, before his suits' temperature gauge beeped. The air around him had suddenly dropped by twenty degrees. He looked down and was surprised to see the floor of the arena was coated in a thin layer of ice.

"Cortana? Assessment." He said quickly.

"It's Weiss Schnee's Semblance. It allows her to channel the elements through her glyphs. She must've frozen the floor. I'm already adjusting the strength of your shields to accommodate the decrease in traction."

John nodded as he felt the decrease and then looked up as he heard Yang yelling. She was free-falling, her fist enveloped in white hot flames as she fell; as he thought she would hit him, the Master Chief rolled to the side as she impacted with the floor. The resulting steam cloud that shrouded the room caused the Spartan to lose his ability to see through his visor, and he smirked at that.

 _Clever girls..._

The Master Chief glanced down at his motion tracker and let out a small grumble as he saw that it was unable to differentiate the steam particles in the air from movement of people. He'd just have to improvise, then. He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing as he started listening to the sounds in the room, and the vibrations in the floor. As he flexed his fist, he heard quick footsteps on his right; he turned his body and dropped to the ground as he kicked the legs out from underneath his attacker. A grunt was heard as the person hit the floor, and John picked them up as he chucked them out of the arena. A moment later a buzzer sounded, signaling one of the members of Team RWBY had been disqualified from the fight.

"Ruby, Weiss is down!"

The Spartan frowned as he turned his head in the direction of Blake's voice, then made a mad dash to her. Due to her increased senses, she was able to see him coming and as he got within a foot of her, she deployed a shadow clone made of fire. As the Master Chief reached for it, the clone erupted into a fireball, knocking him onto his back and draining his shields by half. He groaned as his suits internal temperature gauge went off, and quickly pushed himself up to his feet. He unholstered his M6D Magnum from his hip and raised it, the barrel pointed at Blake. While the original plan was to _not_ use his firearms due to the unknown effects the high bullet velocity would have on an Aura, the Master Chief had taken a severe hit, the explosion causing him to pop his shoulder out of place. He pulled the trigger twice and the stun round version of the 12.7×40mm M225 Semi-Armor-Piercing High-Explosive rounds the weapon was loaded with flew out of the barrel and impacted just above Blake's shoulder blades. She let out a cry of pain as she crumpled to the floor, and the Spartan gritted his teeth as he turned to see the steam had dissipated.

Checking the scoreboard, he saw that both Yang and Ruby's Aura's were at 55% while Weiss and Blake were at zero. Ruby frowned as she watched the Spartan rack the slide on his magnum and held it in one hand, his other tightened into a fist. He was about to charge the two girls when Cortana caused an alarm to sound in the room. The Aura displays in the room went blank as the combat protocol was turned off, and he chuckled when he heard Yang groan in protest.

"Chief... It's almost 1600. The students should be heading back to their dorms to prepare for dinner." She said frowning at him.

John exhaled as he thumbed the safety on the magnum, then holstered it and looked at Ruby.

"Well done, girls. You handled yourself pretty well." He turned towards Teams JNPR ans CRDL. "You're dismissed..." He tilted his head and started walking towards the tables where the weapons were laid out, and he took a moment to look at his MA5B before he turned his head slightly and looked at Ruby as she walked past him.

"Ms. Rose, can you stay for a moment, I want to speak with you alone..." His voice was cool and almost devoid of emotion as he watched the others leave.

Ruby looked to her teammates, then nodded before she looked at her feet nervously. "Of course Master Chief..."

John was silent as Yang turned and left the room, a look of concern on her face as she helped Blake out. As the Spartan pulled his pistol from the holster on his hip, he spoke up. "Do you know why I asked you to stay behind, Ruby?"

Ruby looked up surprised as it was the first time he had addressed her by her first name and shook her head as she watched him eject the magazine from the gun. He caught it in his hand and quickly began pushing the remaining five bullets out. "N-no, sir..."

John pulled back the slide on the magnum and caught the sixth bullet as it was ejected from the slide. "Because I want to know if you can recognize the flaws in your team's combat techniques... Can you?"

Ruby thought about it for a moment as she placed her hand on her chin and frowned. "Well, I know that Yang's temper can get in the way... but as for Blake and Weiss, I don't know for sure..."

The Master Chief turned and lifted his helmet off of his head, tucking it under his arm, and frowned. His closely shaven brown hair was dotted with sweat, and as he looked at the girl, his pale scarred face took on a look of concern. "It's your job as leader of your team to be able to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the people under your command. Failure in being able to do so on the battlefield is dangerous and can end up with people hurt... or worse." His voice deepened as he finished, and he felt a grin tug at the corner of his mouth as she fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"I-I'm sorry, I'll do better to watch for-"

John cut her off and shook his head. "No, don't say you're sorry. I'm not angry, I am simply trying to teach you how to better prepare you and the other members of your team to be a more effective fighting force." He sighed as he set his helmet on the table next to him. "Do you want to know what flaws I could find while I fought your team?"

Ruby was hesitant, but she nodded as she was interested to know what her team needed to work on.

"For starters, you should never announce a combat technique aloud. Doing so can potentially inform your enemy of which team members are going to be synchronizing their attacks. Try and use nonverbal signs, such as hand signals, they're quiet and you can personalize them to the needs of your situation."

Ruby nodded as she crossed her arms. "Hand signals, got it."

"Second, _you_ shouldn't charge head first into a fight. If you are taken out of commission like I did today, your team is left without an effective chain of command. You can address that problem by establishing an order of who is in charge in case you are wounded or are otherwise indisposed. As for your charging into battle, you should wait until your team is ready to attack so they can provide cover, while in the meantime, if need be, you can use your scythe to pick off targets from long distances."

Ruby smiled as she listened to the Master Chief's advice for over an hour, by which time dinnertime had been served and she had missed out. Though seeing as he had held her up, the Master Chief, treated the girl to a special dinner at a pizza restaurant. It was going on almost 7:00pm when the Spartan had knocked on the door carrying an unconscious Ruby in his arms, and when she awoke the next morning, Team RWBY had a long talk about how they would modify their fighting styles, communication strategies and how they all would learn to fight more in sync with each other.

 **00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

And there's chapter 3 for you guys!

I hope you enjoyed the fight scene I wrote as it took me four tries to get it to a point where I was comfortable with it.

I really don't have much to say in terms of notes for this chapter, so thanks for your support!

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside,**

 **Soul's Release**


	4. Important Update!

**Important Announcement:** So... Seeing as I have been stuck trying to figure out how to proceed with the fourth chapter of this Fic, a fact that I am afraid has been a thing for almost a year... I have made the executive decision to mark this story as Discontinued.

I hate to do this, but I have been stuck and unable to think of a way to start Chapter 4 for a long time now, and so I am marking this Fic this way to try and work on other projects for now. If I ever come up with ideas for this again in the future I might try and put it down to try chapter 4 again, but for now, I apologize.

I hope you can forgive me, but it's pretty hard to write when you have so little ideas.


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